<p>My wife and I are taking my son to visit Tulane over the weekend. My wife's request is that we get the "best" beignets around. I've never been to New Orleans. Where should I take her?</p>
<p>TIA! I also can't wait to see the school.</p>
<p>Cafe du Monde near Jackson Square is the most famous and is very accessible if you going to walk around and see the usual sights.</p>
<p>Cafe DuMonde. On Decatur Street. Can’t wait to hear all about your visit! Have a wonderful time! </p>
<p>Thanks very much to both of you. We have a 9 am campus tour scheduled for Sat morning. </p>
<p>Well, beignets are good any time. Where are you staying Friday night and when do you fly back?</p>
<p>Well, I can’t even tell you how tough it has been to find a hotel (with very good reviews) for the weekend for under $350/night. We finally today decided to stay kind of far away. We’re staying Friday and Saturday nights at the Homewood Suites in Slidell. We leave Sunday to drive to Georgia Tech to check out the school. </p>
<p>Yeah, sometimes it can be tough, depending on what is going on. But since you are staying Saturday night, you can get your beignets after you are done with Tulane on Saturday. I think going later in the evening, say after dinner and a nice walk around the area, is always nice.</p>
<p>The convenient thing for you about staying in Slidell is that as you hit the road Saturday morning you are already on the right side of town, and right off I-59. Easy drive to ATL from there.</p>
<p>Just returned home from our tour of campuses. Tulane was our first stop, and the most memorable. Having never been to NOLA and let alone Tulane, all I can say is WOW! First of all, it was a great suggestion for Cafe du Monde later on Saturday. We ended up there after a great dinner in the French Quarter, and what a treat that place is at midnight on Saturday night. It was crazy good. Saturday after our tour we jumped on the streetcar and had lunch at the Milk Bar. That place was great too!
In the meantime, my son absolutely loved the campus and the smaller school feeling. We had a great tour guide who told my son about his experience catching incredible concerts in these small, intimate settings. He loved the size of the campus, and all of the facilities. The only cons were that the freshman dorms (Sharp & Monroe) do not show too well. The other issue is that his intended major (Engineering) is not a strong point for Tulane. Thanks for all of the suggestions, and I can’t tell you enough how nice this school is. </p>
<p>Glad you had a great time. I will go ahead and comment on the two cons you mention. It is no secret that Sharp and Monroe are older dorms that, while renovated to some degree in 2008 or thereabouts, certainly are not like dorms being built today. But they are only dorms, and the kids that stay there seem to like them a lot. Of course there are other choices for freshmen males, Monroe and Sharp are not the only two freshman dorms. There is Wall, which requires a separate application but is a suite-style dorm, and has a professor and their family living there. This is called Residential College style and the prof will arrange lectures, discussion groups, and other side activities. There is Butler, which is called the Honors dorm but you don’t have to have been invited to that program to live there. It is a hall bath style like Monroe and Sharp, but is a quieter dorm. And there is Paterson, which is known as the Wellness dorm. They arrange for various programs on healthy life-styles, yoga, etc. It is a mix of suites and hall bath, and I think has sophomores mixed in with the freshmen. I am not sure if the brand new dorm, Zimple House, will be for freshmen or sophomores. It will be residential college style also. The upperclassmen get more choices of dorms that are more modern.</p>
<p>Regarding the engineering, I think it depends if he knows what field of engineering he wants. If it is Biomedical or Chemical, then Tulane is a good choice. If not, or if he is unsure, then you are right that Tulane might not be the best fit. I haven’t met any of the ChemE faculty, but I have met some of the BME faculty, and they are very active in their research and there are great things going on there. Just FYI. Obviously Georgia Tech is mostly about engineering and has more resources overall in that area. But Tulane engineering students in those two fields seem to have excellent outcomes. How was the visit at GT?</p>
<p>Thanks FC - your insight is very helpful. The dorm thing in no deal breaker, just an observation. The visit at GT was different. It seems to be a very intense academic place with less of a culture. My son described it as more sterile than Tulane. The plus side of it is it’s academic reputation, and the opportunities in the corporate world that creates. He’s also a little concerned about the social environment there, and the ratio of males/females.<br>
If it came down to those two schools, it would be “fit (Tulane) vs. finish (opportunities post-graduation)”. </p>